


Bittersweet Life

by Liza1031



Series: Harringrove One-Shots [34]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Billy and Steve, Domestic Fluff, Family Fluff, Harrington-Hargrove Child, Harrington-Hargrove Family, Husbands, Kid Fic, Love, M/M, Marriage, Parents Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Soft Billy Hargrove, fluffy cuteness, parents!harringrove, stranger things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27980259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liza1031/pseuds/Liza1031
Summary: Billy and Steve’s daughter’s first day of school.One-shot based on the song Bittersweet Life by the band My Favorite Highway.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: Harringrove One-Shots [34]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1987054
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Bittersweet Life

“Seven thirty all ready? Didn’t we just fall asleep?” Steve mumbles into his pillow while Billy turns off their alarm.

“I fell asleep hours ago. You were too busy worrying about Ella’s first day of school.”

“It’s a big deal for her and well for us.” Steve sighs feeling himself being engulfed in his husband’s arms. “Our first born is going into kindergarten, B.”

“I know honey. I think you’re more nervous than she is. Ella’s always been very outgoing, and she’s been talking about this all summer.”

“I know babe. I guess I’m just not ready to let her go.”

“She’s just going to kindergarten Steve, it’s not like she’s leaving for college.”

“Still. Our baby is growing up so fast. Then before we know it Aiden’s gonna be in school and we’ll be all alone.”

“They’re four and two Steve. Trust me, they have a long way to go before they’re out of the house.” Billy says and kisses his husband on the cheek. “I’m gonna go start breakfast. Can you wake the kids?”

“Yeah.”

“Thank you.” Billy gives Steve another kiss and leaves him in the bed.

Steve cuddles with his pillow for a few more seconds then does a full body stretch under the covers before going to wake his kids. He sits up and grumbles about the sun being so bright in their room then works himself out from his comfy bed and into some slippers. He heads down the hall to Aiden’s room and opens the door, seeing his toddler awake in his bed.

“Momma!” Aiden points a tiny finger at Steve and makes his mother smile.

“Good morning sweet boy.” He picks up his son and presses a kiss to his cheek while ruffling his curls. “Are you ready to go to see Lila and Auntie Max today?

“Yeah!” He cheers.

“I have to go wake Ella, okay? It’s her first day of school.”

“I go school Momma!”

“No. You’re going to spend the day with Auntie Max and Lila. You’ll be going to Kindergarten in two years, though. Do you know how many fingers that is?”

He puts a determined look at his face trying to come up with his answer and holds up two of his fingers.

“Good job buddy.” Steve kisses him again then puts him down. “Daddy’s got breakfast ready downstairs so go see him while I get your sister.” He tells him.

Aiden runs down the hall and grabs onto the railing while going down each step one by one until he reaches the bottom and Billy greeted him with a big smile. Meanwhile Steve made his way into Ella’s room and sat on her bed watching her sleep.

Steve leaned down and pressed a kiss to his daughter’s forehead. “Ella, baby. Wake up sweetheart.”

She hummed a soft sound as she began to wake up. Her eyes flutter open and Steve smiles when he sees her blue eyes.

“Mornin’ momma.”

“Morning sweet pea. Ready for your first day of school?”

Ella nods and does a full body stretch just like Steve then sits up. He moves her messy hair out of her face and she smiles at him.

“Are you nervous or excited?”

“Excited Momma! I can’t wait!”

“Well okay then.” She giggles and moves to get out of her bed. “Daddy made breakfast so let’s go.”

“Okay!”

Ella leads the way while Steve follows behind her still feeling lousy about his baby going to school.

He joined his two tiny humans at the table and was given his coffee by Billy, who added another kiss to his lips before serving them their food.

The four of them have breakfast together which consists of eggs, bacon, fruit, and yogurt. Aiden made sure his food was all over his face much rather in his belly.

Billy took care of getting Aiden and himself ready for the day while Steve helped Ella. He made sure she brushed her teeth then did her hair and put on the uniform all students are required to wear since it’s a private school.

Steve put Ella’s hair into a high ponytail braid then clipped in two purple barrettes before sending her off so he could get ready for work.

He’ll be returning back to the office today since he worked from home a majority of the summer so he could watch Ella and Aiden. Both him and his husband have great jobs so at least he’ll be able to keep himself and his mind busy while Ella’s at school.

Once Steve was ready he grabbed his phone and went down to see his husband and kids.

“Alright I want some pictures before we leave.” He opens the door to their patio/terrace and they all follow him.

“I want Ella by herself then with Aiden and you, Billy, then one with me, you and me with her, then hopefully the four of us if I get the timer right.” Oh yeah Steve was that mom

“Let’s do it.” Billy says while Ella stands in front of their wall garden ready to strike a pose for her picture.

Steve takes about a hundred pictures of her alone, then more with Aiden, Billy, and himself. They were able to get a good one with the four of them and by the time he was done, it was time for them to go.

Ella made sure she had her bag and lunchbox before walking out the door with her brother. Steve and Billy followed behind their kids and took the elevator down to the lobby. They took the subway to Max’s apartment and dropped their son off before making their way to Ella’s school.

When they arrived at the building, there were many kids just heading in without their parents, some with their parents, others crying not wanting to go.

Steve swallowed and held back his own tears as they walked through the doors and went to go find Ella’s classroom. They walked down the hall, turned right, and there it was. Room 202.

“Here it is.” Billy smiled and entered the room with a hand on Ella’s back.

The three of them are approached by a woman who appeared to be in her mid-late twenties.

“May I help you?”

“Yes, I’m Steve Harrington-Hargrove and this is my husband Billy Harrington-Hargrove.”

“Very nice to meet you. I’m Miss Stella. You must be Ella Harrington-Hargrove.” She smiled down at the young girl standing in between her fathers with a smile beaming on her face.

“Yes.” Ella answers, holding tightly onto her daddy’s hand.

“Well welcome to your class. I’ll be your teacher this year. It’s very nice to meet you.”

“You too.”

They shook hands then her teacher looked back up at Steve and Billy.

“Parents are allowed to stay for a few minutes if you’d like to help her get settled. Ella, you can go put your things in the cubby with your name on it then you may take a seat anywhere you’d like.” She says and turns around to go welcome the other students and their parents.

“You wanna go put your things in your cubby, baby?” Billy asks.

Ella nods and walks over to the area looking at the tags on top, trying to find her name.

“Here it is.” She stops and Billy helps her hang her bag on the hook while putting her lunchbox in the slot above. She turns around and walks to a different part of the classroom with Steve and Billy following behind her.

Ella sits at a table with another girl who was coloring.

“Hi, I’m Gabby.” The girl introduced herself. She had straight dark hair and rosy cheeks.

“I’m Ella.”

“Do you like to color?” Gabby asks in a soft voice.

“Yes. Can I color with you?”

“Sure.”

The two girls smiled at each other and Gabby pulled out a piece of paper for Ella then pushed some of her crayons over.

“Well, I guess we should be heading out.” Billy says and Ella gets out of her seat to say bye to her parents.

Billy crouches down to her and gives her a big hug. “Have a good day sweetheart. I love you.”

“I love you too daddy.” He kisses her on the cheek then gets up as she moves onto Steve.

Steve takes a deep breath and smiles at his baby, while crouching to her level. He keeps himself together so that she doesn’t notice he was about to burst into tears in front of everyone.

“I hope you have a great day, honey. You’re gonna be just fine and I promise I’m gonna pick you up this afternoon, okay?”

“Okay, momma.”

“K. Can I have a hug and a kiss?”

She nods and engulfs him in a tight hug while kissing him on the cheek. He does the same to her then stands back up.

“We’ll see you later, baby. Have a good day.”

“I will. Bye.”

“Bye.” Steve and Billy wave to her and leave her classroom.

“You okay?” Billy asks, putting his hand on Steve’s back.

“I will be.” He says and looks at his husband. “She’s gonna be okay right Billy?”

“She’s gonna be fine, babe. You’re gonna see her in a few hours, everything’s gonna be just fine.”

“I know. I’m just overthinking.”

“Exactly. Take a deep breath and stop for a little pick me up on your way to work. Something to boost your mood.”

“You’re amazing, you know that?”

“Yeah. You remind me all the time. Especially while we were making our kids.”

“Billy Harrington-Hargrove!” Steve slaps him across the chest as they leave the building.

Billy chuckles and grabs onto Steve’s hand, continuing their walk down the street.

“I should be heading to work now.”

“Okay.” Steve frowns.

“She’s gonna be okay, Steve. We have to give her a chance.”

“I know. I just wish this wasn’t so hard for me.”

“It’s normal. I’m just better at hiding my feelings, trust me it’s not easy to leave her here either but I’m pulling through.” Billy says, holding his husband in his arms.

“Yeah. Well I’ll see you later.” Steve says and gives his husband a kiss full of love. “Be safe and let me know when you get there.”

“I will honey. You too.”

“I will. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Billy kisses Steve then they go their separate ways to their jobs.

**-Hours Later-**

Steve just left work and was on his way uptown to pick up his son then to get Ella from school. It was a quick day at work for him. Once he got himself situated that morning, he started to feel better about Ella being at school. Shortly after he was swamped with meetings about the new fall line so it was a good distraction for him.

He got off the subway and walked the three blocks to Max’s apartment building. He took the elevator up to the fourth floor and came across their door, knocking three times.

“Steve. Come on in.” Max waves for her brother-in-law to come inside. “Aiden’s just finishing up his snack with Lila.”

“Okay. How was he today?”

“Great, as always. He ate almost all of his lunch, took a nap with Lila, and now they’re having some apple slices in the living room watching Tangled.” She explains as they go see the kids.

Aiden’s eyes widened when he saw Steve and he ran to him, hugging around his legs.

“Hi buddy. Did you have fun with Lila and Auntie Max today?”

“Yeah!” He nods and goes to get another apple slice.

“Go get your shoes on so we can pick up Ella from school.”

“K, momma.”

Aiden took his apple slice with his as he tottled away from the two adults.

“Thanks for doing this. I’m not really comfortable putting him in daycare just yet.”

“Oh it’s no problem. Lila loves getting to spend time with him.”

“I know but I feel bad just dumping him in you because of my fears and anxieties.”

“Hush, Steve.” She warmly smiles. “I don’t mind him being here at all. It keeps Lila distracted which gives me time to work on my laptop.”

“Oh yeah, how’s that going?”

“It’s going pretty well. Not easy but I’m getting it done.” Max explains, resting her hands on her hips. “Oh well, what can you do?” She sighs and shrugs.

Aiden came back with his shoes on, still chewing his apple slice.

“You ready to go, babe?”

“Mhm.” He nods and leans into Steve legs

“Say bye bye to auntie and Lila and thank them for having you.”

“Bye-bye auntie. Bye-bye Lila.” He hugs the two girls and they hug him back.

“Bye honey and you’re always welcome. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Otay.” He waves at his cousin and she waves back saying bye to him then he left with Steve

The two of them walked to Ella’s school and went inside to go get her. Steve holds Aiden’s hand as they walk through the hall, coming across her classroom.

“Momma!” Ella runs over to Steve giving him a hug.

“Hi sweet girl. Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah!” She turns and gets some papers from her table. “Bye Gabby.”

“Bye Ella.” They wave to each other and Ella goes back over to Steve and Aiden.

He let her teacher know he was taking her then the three of them left.

“So how was your first day?”

“It was gweat momma! Me and Gabby get to sit togethewe and we colored all day and we played some games with Miss Stella and it was weally fun!”

“Wow, that does sound like fun. I’m glad you had a good day, sweetheart. You get to go back tomorrow too and see Gabby and the rest of your class.”

“I can’t wait!” She flashes her father’s smile up at Steve and they head home.

**\---**

Billy walked through the door at 5:30pm and joined his husband in the kitchen. He walked up behind Steve, wrapping his arms around him, pulling him into his chest, while sneaking a kiss onto his cheek.

Steve smiles when he feels his husband and turns around to face him. “Hi baby.” He pecks his lips as they hold each other in their arms. “How was work?”

“Boring. How about you?”

“I was busy all day so I guess it was a good thing.”

“Mmm. How was Ella when you picked her up?”

“She was practically jumping up and down telling about her day. They’re in the living room watching tv, why don’t you go see them while I finish making dinner.”

“Okay, love.” Billy sneaks in one more kiss then leaves Steve in the kitchen with his glass of wine.

He goes into the living room and Ella gasps seeing Billy She runs to him and he scoops her up in his arms.

“Hi baby. Did you have a good day at school?”

“Mhm…” She went on telling Billy all about her day, including every single detail from the moment they left to the moment Steve picked her up. She then stopped talking for a few minutes, left the living room, then came back with a piece of paper, handing it to Billy.

“What’s this, babe?”

“I made it fow you. Fow your offis. I made one fow momma too.”

It was a drawing of their family. Ella paid close attention to the detail in the drawing right down to Billy’s necklace and Steve’s guylights. It was beautiful.

“Aww this is beautiful, baby girl. It’s gonna look great in my office. I can’t wait to bring it in tomorrow to show all my co-workers and make them jealous. Thank you.” Billy smiles at her and gives her a hug and kiss on the cheek.

“You’we welcome, daddy.”

Steve comes into the living room with his glass of wine and joins his husband on the couch. Ella looks at her parents then gives them both a hug and kiss then joins her brother on the floor.

Steve and Billy smirk at each other, then Steve lays against Billy’s side.

“She’s so cute isn’t she?” Steve asks.

“She’s adorable, babe. We did good with her.” Billy adds and kisses the top of Steve’s head. “She’s already so independent and is gonna be a powerhouse of a little girl.”

“I know.” Steve sighs. “I’m not ready for that yet. I want her to stay little forever.”

“Me too, honey. Me too.”


End file.
